Civic Unity Committee (Seattle, Wash.)

Seattle's Civic Unity Committee (CUC), a civil rights organization that existed between 1944-1964, lobbied for civil rights laws and fought employment and housing discrimination.

Existing racial tensions in Seattle had been exacerbated with an influx of African American workers during the Second World War, prompting Mayor William Devin to establish the Committee. While unsuccessful in its initial attempts to end discriminatory hiring practices against African Americans, the CUC did play a major role in ensuring that the return of interned Japanese Americans to Seattle went peacefully. Following the war, the CUC was reorganized as a private organization. It tried to combat racism with a number of techniques, which included publishing a semi-monthly newsletter, Fair Play, co-sponsoring an annual Northwest Institute on Race Relations with the University of Washington (1948-1953) and sending its trustees to talk to civic organizations about discrimination. Such gentlemanly tactics were often seen as ineffectual by African American civil rights and community action groups, such as the local branches of the NAACP and the Urban League. The CUC shifted its focus to housing issues during the 1950s, helping to create the Greater Seattle Housing Council. In 1962, it joined with the NAACP and the Urban League to sponsor an open housing law for all of Seattle. The CUC convinced the Seattle City Council to create a Human Rights Commission (now called the Human Rights Division) to draft this legislation. Although the CUC conducted a vigorous campaign, fully 68% of Seattle voters opposed the ordinance in the March 1964 election. This defeat disheartened the CUC, leading many members to conclude that their critics may have been right about the usefulness of the organization. The CUC disbanded soon after the election; some of its members joined other civil rights groups or went to work for the Seattle Human Rights Commission.